The Road to Wigan Pier: A Detailed Book Review and Analysis

This report is a comprehensive review of George Orwell's 'The Road to Wigan Pier,' analyzing the book's two parts. The first part details Orwell's sociological investigation into the harsh living conditions of the working class in industrial northern England before World War II, focusing on miners' lives, unemployment, and housing. The second part presents Orwell's personal reflections on his middle-class upbringing and the evolution of his political conscience, discussing his views on socialism and the attitudes of the British people towards it. The review explores Orwell's definitions of socialism, the historical context of the Depression, and the social realities of suffering. It also covers the book's critical reception, highlighting early reviews and the diverse responses to the second part, which shifted from reportage to political and autobiographical integration. The report provides a detailed overview of the book's themes, arguments, and reception.

The road to Wigan pier

Book Review of The road to Wigan pier
The Road to Wigan Pier is a book written by the renowned writer George Orwell. It was
published for the first time in the year 1937. The first part of the respective book details the
sociological investigation conducted by Orwell upon the miserable livelihood circumstances of
the individuals pertaining to the working section of society within the confines of Yorkshire and
Lancashire within the industrial north side of England prior to the occurrence of World War 2.
Besides this, the second part of the book has been portrayed as a prolonged essay talking about
the upbringing of the middle class Orwell and the evolution of political conscience within the
author, thereby putting questions over the attitude of British people in response to socialism
(Amundsen, 2016). The author subtly put forth the premise that he also favours socialism,
however considers it essential to lay down the reasons behind a large number of individuals who
gain from the concept of socialism are most likely to emerge as effective opponent. The Road to
Wigan Pier tends to deal with the historic as well as social reality of suffering as a result of
Depression, within the north of England. Hereby, the author has not just enumerated the different
kinds of injustice as well as evil but has also pointed out the need to break through the middle
class oblivion.
What is Socialism?
It is exceptionally prominent that Orwell has not presented or discussed the policies
associated with actual political parties neither the British Liberals, Conservatives nor the Labour
Party. Instead of that, the total debate has been framed from the point of view of personal
experiences of Orwell, or through paraphrasing the ideologies of other modern or old authors. He
constantly speaks to his reader that the sole choice available to a modern individual is Socialism
(Williams, 2013). It is required that the differences are set aside and socialism is adopted. The
need to promote socialism has emerged. The real definition of socialism varies in accordance
with the contexts in which they have been used in the different chapters of The Road to Wigan
Pier. In this relation, the definitions within different chapters are presented below:-
 Socialism is referred to as justice as well as common decency as per Chapter 11.
 The important aims of this concept are acknowledged to be justice as well as liberty as
shown in Chapter 12.

 In the Chapter 14, it has been shown that the real Socialist is the individual that intends to
see tyranny overthrown.
 Socialism can be referred to as the overthrow of tyranny as shown in the Chapter 14.
 As per Chapter 14, everything that is required is hammering 2 facts home into public
consciousness. One is that the interests of all the exploited individuals are acknowledged
to be same and another is that socialism is determined to be sharing compatibility with
common decency.
The book named as Road to Wigan Pier is mainly divided into two sections that is part 1 and
2. The part 1 section of this book basically provides detailed knowledge to the readers about the
several conditions through which poor and unemployed people go through. Here, in the first
chapter Orwell provides detailed description on the Brooker family who simply called
themselves as the wealthy people as compared to poor one. According to the authors description
Brooker mainly installed cheap lodging house as well as the small shop. Also, later he has
expressed that both Mr. and Mrs. Brooker were not working and they were living their life on the
pensions and the rent which is received by them for their rooms. The total amount or monetary
value that is gained by them from both the sources is highly satisfactory for them even for living
their basic life that is food related cost (Lia Rahmadani, 2015). In addition to this, this author has
later expressed that they individual who lives in lodging house are mainly dependent pensions.
The respective author has himself also spent some time in the lodging house while conducting
research.
The second chapter of part clearly expresses about the lifestyle of miner, their working
pattern and other related facts with which common people are not at all aware. Orwell has
expressed that miners basically works in the non healthy environment, the working conditions
which have been provided to them are very dirty, hot, dusty as they works under the ground
where actual space to execute the work is very limited. In order to develop detailed knowledge
on the miner Orwell has also went underground in order to check out the actual working
conditions of the individuals who work in mines (Schansberg, 2018). Later author has expressed
in very thoughtful manner that along with the none effectively working environment miners also
have to show their hard work in the working pattern too. Along with the hardest working
conditions miners also have to travel a lot in order to bring things to the desired place. This
travelling time is basically mentioned for around half an hour. Apart from this, it has also been

seen that if the person who is travelling the mining area like Orwell and does not have adequate
level of training towards the same then he/ she would definitely take around one hour to cover
the same distance as compared to the experienced miners.
In the third chapter of Part 1, Orwell has clearly described social situation of miner. This has
been explained briefly by looking at their hygiene level. The author has also said that many
people also believes that minor does not values hygiene condition as they do not wash their
hands or take bath regular. Also while emphasising on the same sector, it has been seen that are
very few mine which bathing or shower facilities (Chaabane, 2014). Also, further it explains
about the situation of houses of the miners are even more worsen as they do not have adequate
level of facilities. In addition to this, it can be further said that there are only few houses in the
mines where there is availability of the bathroom facilities. The remaining individuals who do
not have bathroom facilities have to manage with the small basins only. Also, miners basically
works for only 7 hours which includes 3 hours of travelling and 4 hours of the remaining work
within which washing, eating and dressing are included (Hollis, 2017). Overall all in one it can
be said that miners are well paid as compared to other individual working in another stream or
field. These people are almost getting eleven shillings in a week that is satisfactory for living
better lifestyle. In addition to this, it has also been expressed in the book that miners commonly
working six days a week.
Away with this, the next chapter provides description over the housing situation of the
overall districts. Normally, the main issue that have been determined is the limited houses within
the region which simply creates situation of the increasing number of blackmailing agents, dirty
holes, non appropriate behaviour of the landlords. The people who want shelter simply tolerates
all sort of issues only receive roof on their heads (Rizvanbegovic, 2018). Here, it has been
further analysed that people also faces problems related to the non effective formulation of the
houses that means these houses are not constructed in appropriate manner that does not includes
appropriate space for the ventilation in the form of windows over other open areas. Also, miners
live in Britain are not able live better lifestyle as they are not saving money due to paying much
proportionate of their earning in the housing rent. Even though, investing this much amount these
miners are not even getting better hygienic houses to live in which has appropriate facilities of
bathroom and other washing areas.

The fifth chapter of the specified book Road to Wigan Pier mainly covers the area of
unemployment. An investigation has been conducted in the year 1937 which simply reveals the
overall unemployed number of people that is 2 million people. But the shown figure does not
reveal overall information related to the same as these numbers are actually 3 times more as
shown in the figures. Orwell has revealed that Wigan itself has every third person who is highly
dependent over social help. National Unemployed Workers Movement simply provides support
to the unemployed people in spending their time.
The last chapter of this book simply provides information on the overall food of the family
living on dole and gets very low wages. Also, the respective chapter clearly reveals actual
priorities of these poor people or workers as they give more preferences to the low cost nutritious
food rather than the tasty food which is being consumed by the rich or upper class people.
In the part two of the books Orwell has shared his own views and ideas towards the socialism as
well as how socialism seen in England. Here, it has been explored that it is not at all easier for
the individual to identify the class of the person by only analysing their own income but it also
includes several other areas like behaviour, profession and birth. Also, it has been seen that
profession tradition plays huge role in England through which is can be easily determined that
class of the people (Chaabane, 2015). Also, people of England explores the class of the person
by analysing their behaviour in terms of various section such as how to ride a horse, how to give
a servant a tip, decent dinner etc. It has also been seen that these people are not able to have good
food or afford servant. Along with this, this chapter also reveals that well established people are
not providing desired value to the low class people or provide them equivalent value within the
society. Also, middle class people do not even prefers to visits slum area or the children
belonging to the upper class believes that children belonging to the other group do not smell
good at all. However, Orwell has criticised that middle class socialist also speaks against to their
respective class which depicts the quality of their behaviour.
Review and Criticism
The Road to Wigan Pier was reviewed for the first time on the date 14th March 1937 for
The Sunday Times by Edward Shanks. Also, it was reviewed for The Observer by Hugh
Massingham on the same data (Chaabane, 2015). Besides this, one of the leaders of the
Communist Party of Great Britain named Harry Polliitt did the review of the book in concern

with the 17th Mar, 1937 issue associated with The Daily Worker. He was forcefully made to grant
some extent of appreciation for the first part of the book.
In the usual sense, the early reviews of the respective novel showed that people highly
appreciated and applauded the way the writer of the book, George Orwell, depicted the plight of
the working class individuals within the first part of the novel. The poet Edith Sitwell said that
the “the horror of the beginning is unsurpassable (Babb, 2017). The author can be seen to be
doing for the modern world what the Engels did for the world belonging to the period between
1840 and 1850. However, the primary difference underlying between Orwell who was a child
prodigy in writing and Engels who was a fiery as well as tremendous spirit is that the latter was
not even a writer.”
The responses that have been given to Part 2 as the transformation of the book took place
from the reportage to the integration of polemics, politics and selective autobiography, have been
acknowledged to be quite diverse. Some of the readers have praised the second part of the book
while others have displayed their resentment as well as fury. In addition to this, the review
written up by Arthur Calder Marshall in Time and Table on the date 20th March 1937 exhibited a
sense of celebration for the achievement of the writer George Orwell (Crawley, 2016). The
review contained a statement which conforms to the same. The statement goes like this “Of
writer George Orwell’s book The Road to Wigan Pier, there is very little to speak rather than
praise.”
Apart from this, Harmish Miles reviewed the book on the date 1st May 1937 for New
Statesman and Nation. In the review, Harmish pointed out that The Road to Wigan Pier can be
seen as a lively book from the beginning to the end which can be enjoyed by the readers for the
subtlety with which the author has presented the plight of the working class in the first part as
well as politics and polemics in the second part. During April of the year 1937, Douglas
Goldring wrote in the Fortnightly that The Road to Wigan Pier is both beautiful as well as
disturbing. He greatly recommended to both the socialist as well as conservative individuals to
go through this book and make a read. Apart from this, on the 12th of March in 1937, Walter
Greenwood in Tribune referred to Part 1 as authentic as well as first rate. He was seen to be
reflecting more of the ambivalency for Part 2. He pointed out that the author keeps the reader
with himself in one moment and provokes the reader beyond the limit of endurance in the next

moment. Walter said that he did not remember him being so infuriated at anything for a long
period time than by the things written by George Orwell in The Road to Wigan Pier.
One of the co founders of the Left Book Club named HJ Laski wrote a review in Left
News within March of 1973. He stated that the first part of the book exhibited admirable
propaganda for their ideas. However, the second part tends to fall short of that.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Williams, G., 2013. The road to Wigan Pier revisited: The migration of Welsh rugby talent since
1918. The Global Sports Arena: Athletic Migration in an Interdependent World, ed. John
Bale and Joseph Maquire (London, 1994), pp.25-38.
Amundsen, M., 2016. George Orwell’s Ethnographies of Experience: The Road to Wigan Pier
and Down and Out in Paris and London. Anthropological Journal of European
Cultures, 25(1), pp.9-25.
Babb, J., 2017. Literature: The Road to Wigan Pier and the roads beyond. News Weekly, (2999),
p.15.
Chaabane, B., 2015. Focalization and Narrative Voice in George Orwell’s Novel: The Road to
Wigan Pier. International Journal of Art and Literature, 2(3), p.17.
Crawley, K. L., 2016. George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier: an experimental ethnographic
study with a novelist’s touch. Prose Studies, 38(2), pp.137-151.
Chaabane, B., 2014. George Orwell’s Non-linear Narrative in The Road To Wigan Pier. Journal
of Literature and Art Studies, 4(11), pp.872-890.
Rizvanbegovic, H., 2018. Translating George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier, and the Case
for its Retranslation (Master's thesis).
Lia Rahmadani, L., 2015. The Reflection of Social and Political Background on George Orwell’s
The Road To Wigan Pier (Doctoral dissertation, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung).
Schansberg, D. E., 2018. Coal Miners, Class Differences, and the Unpopularity of Isms: A
Review Essay on George Orwell's" The Road to Wigan Pier". The Independent
Review, 23(1), pp.131-143.
Hollis, C., 2017. A study of George Orwell: the man and his works. Skyhorse.